Calling off Sick When Your Soul Hurts. Embracing Mental Health

Risk Screen – Please describe the risks identified in the assessment.
Past history of overdosing once with sleeping tablets.
She said she can become aggressive towards her husband when she feels elated.

Service user strengths, needs and expectations.
Strengths: she said she used to be emphatic and kind.
Needs: she wants the focus back.

Summary / formulation / specific outcomes and circumstances.
34 years old Portuguese female. History of Anorexia nervosa from the age of 20. No previous hospital admissions. Currently takes Fluoxetine 20mg daily at night. Referral from GP due to significant mood swings.

Mental State and Well-being assessment.
Slim, well dressed, Portuguese female. Good engagement, rapport and eye contact. No evidence of psychomotor agitation or retardation. Her speech was normal in tone, rhythm and volume. Normal content. Her mood was low and she was tearful.
She was not distracted by abnormal perceptions or delusions.
Currently no risk to self or others. No active suicidal plans.
Good cognition and insight.

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These are the clippings of what came through my best friend’s postbox after she went to see a specialist about.. feeling helpless, hopeless, numb, suicidal?

She gets upset. I also do. We meet, drink coffee and talk about it. We focus on the art of deception. We go to Zara looking for distractions.

She tells me they would call her asking to rate from 1 to 10 her suicidal thoughts that day. If it’s a high 9, the forms are filled up and someone else promises to call back. They always do. Usually after a few days.

What changes could we see if a fraction of all the money that goes for cancer research would go towards the mental health? What if being depressed was treated in the same serious way as having broken bones? Nowadays you can get antidepressants almost as easily as M&Ms.

I think everyone can do something. The fancy life portrayed by so many on social media can be really overwhelming. And yes, you are probably thinking it is not your fault someone is depressed, but I bet your friend or even a family member is in need of some serious help, but thinks you would judge. Please, don’t.

I hope you are well pleased with your sanity and not put off by your shadow.
I hope you treat yourself with love, kindness and respect.
I hope you have someone out there that celebrates how wonderful YOU are!

This is a WONDERFUL post! I suffer depression and anxiety–scary enough, but the stigma magnifies the pain, so I tried to be strong; living in denial only kept me stuck, so now I’m seeking help. Thank you for writing and posting this piece. God bless you.

I am glad you like it. I hope you will be able to find the light. I know some days are better than others and sometimes you can be doing exactly the same thing and on Tuesday you are ok while Wednesday you are dreaming of a random car running over you. I hope you have someone close in your life that you are able to speak to.

When someone who has no idea what depression feels like asks me about it I always show them this TED talk by Andrew Soloman, Depression: The Secret We Share